Springing twice more

Yes, Walt and I DID enjoy soaking in the hot springs pools here in Bishop Bay despite the afternoon’s having been VERY warm indeed (the day’s high temperature was probably in the mid-80s). After supper, we motored in Coracle, our dinghy, to the dock near the springs and walked the short forest trail to the wooden building that houses two pools, both about three feet deep, one very warm and the other a little cooler but still quite warm. The pools have sand and mossy rocks at their bottoms and are lined with stones and concrete; hot spring water splashes in through a pipe protruding from the hillside. The view over the bay from the pools is beautiful, and one can sit on a bench on a wooden deck outside to dry off and enjoy looking at the tree-covered slopes surrounding the bay’s deep green waters and perhaps see fish jumping and/or a humpback whale tail or orca fin breaking the surface (we saw all of these!). After poaching ourselves sufficiently, we returned to Braesail in the dinghy at nearly 10 pm, lay on our backs on the sloping top of the bow cabin, watched the stars awaken and emerge to dance through the darkening sky, and listened to the whuffling and blowing of unseen whales–awe-inspiring indeed!

Today (Thursday, August 25) is the 5-month anniversary of our departure from Anacortes, and we have had a lovely day, sleeping late, eating a waffle brunch, reading and planning our travels for the next week, enjoying an afternoon soak and then a late-evening soak in the hot pools and chatting with some of the other people there, and motoring all the way around the bay in Coracle, past a pretty waterfall that we can see and hear from Braesail’s deck. During our tour of the bay, we could see down through the clear, turquoise water to the bottom where rocks and shells lay near swaying seaweed forests over which clouds of tiny fish swirled. Above us, wisps of cirrus clouds and a wide quilt of puffy cirrocumulus clouds decorated a deep cerulean sky. We are now, at 10:30 pm, out in the cockpit, listening to the whales and peeping out at the stars peeping down at us. Our Creator has blessed us splendidly! The photos show some of the spectacular scenery in Verney Passage.